That’s because all food takes water and energy and is produced, processed, packaged and shipped by millions of farmers and intermediaries.  Unfortunately, continuing deforestation alone accounts for a fifth of global carbon emissions, second only after transportation.  Most of this newly freed land is used for pasturage for cattle and other livestock, and cattle have twice the carbon footprint of any other source of protein.  Some land is converted into monocultures for palm oil, soy, and maize, but monocultures don’t absorb anywhere near the carbon absorbed by old growth forest, and they eliminate habitat diversity for other plants and creatures, as the UN report on extinctions recently reminded us.  What we eat makes a difference.